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EU delegation to meet Ranil before taking decision on ban on Sri Lankan fish products
European Union (EU) officials will this week meet with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe among others before making a final assessment on lifting the ban on Sri Lankan fish products to European countries, officials said.
A senior official of the Fisheries Ministry said the decision would be taken once the visiting EU delegation assessed the progress in implementing its recommendations on the prevention of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing practices.
“This would be a crucial visit from Brussels which will decide the possibility of lifting the ban from April next year,” he said.
A technical evaluation team from EU arrived on Friday to inspect the steps taken by the government to upgrade the quality of the Lankan fisheries products in order to comply with the EU standards.
While the technical evaluation team is assessing the government’s implementation process, an adviser to the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) of the EU is due to arrive tomorrow to hold a number of high level meetings.
In addition to a meeting with the Prime Minister, he will also meet Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.
“The ministry has already undertaken to implement a process based on a road map comprising 57 tasks. We have completed all of them, the EU team’s assessment would be based on that,” the official said.
Following its evaluation, the EU team is expected to compile a detailed report of Lanka’s implementation process to the European Commission (EU) for further action.
In January the EU imposed the ban on Sri Lankan fisheries products accusing the country of engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing despite many earlier warnings.
As a one of the significant recommendations highlighted by the EU to be in line with its obligations under the International Fisheries laws and Agreements, the government is to present an amendment to Parliament next Friday increasing penalties for violation of fisheries laws by fishermen in international waters.
Following recent cabinet decisions, the Legal Draftsman has compiled the necessary amendments and they will be submitted to parliament forapproval at the Committee Stage.
Earlier Fisheries Minister Amaraweera said Amendments to the Fisheries Act would be introduced to impose severe penalties of up to Rs 250 million –proportionately enhanced according to the size of vessels over 24 meters.